True Pheasants 



3 11 



(P. versicplor), and others, has been introduced into various parts of North 

 America, but the Ring-necked species appears to be the only one that has gained 

 a permanent foothold, being now fairly abundant in Oregon, Washington, and 

 adjacent states, and on certain game preserves in the East, notably in western 

 Vermont. Notwithstanding the apparent thorough establishment in Great 

 Britain, it is said to be doubtful if they could long hold their own without the 

 fostering care of man, with the result that large sums are annually expended in 

 keeping up the preserves. The extent of certain of these great game preserves 

 may be judged from the fact recorded by Newton that in 1883, 134,000 Pheas- 

 ants' eggs were sold from one estate in Suffolk, and 101,000 in 1893, while 9700 

 birds were killed upon it. The question of whether it can be considered dig- 

 nified "sport" to kill hand-reared birds is perhaps one that must be settled by 

 individual standards. 



As already hinted, the Common Pheasant (P. colchicus) is a very handsome 

 bird, the male having the top of the head bronze-green, the rest of the head and 

 neck dark green shading into purple on the sides and front; mantle, chest, 

 breast, and flanks fiery orange-chestnut, the former narrowly margined with rich 

 purplish green, the latter widely edged with rich purple, the upper back and 

 shoulders mottled in the middle with black and buff and margined with consecu- 

 tive bands of buff, black, and orange-red, and tipped with purplish lake; the 

 lower back, rump, and upper tail-coverts red-maroon, glossed with purplish 

 lake; the under parts are dark purplish green and dark brown mixed with rufous; 

 the tail is olive down the middle, with narrow, remote black bars, widely edged 

 on each side with rufous, and glossed with purplish lake; the length is about 

 thirty-seven and a half inches, of which the tail includes a little over twenty-one 

 inches. The female is mainly sandy brown, barred with black, and attains a 

 length of only twenty-five inches. These birds are ordinarily very shy and retir- 

 ing in their habits, frequenting woods and the neighborhood of cultivation where 

 there is thick covert, coming out more or less into the open to feed at morning 

 and evening. They are essentially ground birds, but when put up by dogs or 

 beaters rise -\ -ith a loud whir, and then fly with astonishing swiftness. The nest 

 is a mere hollow in the ground under ferns, brambles, or underbrush, and the 

 eight to twelve broadly oval eggs are usually olive-brown in color. 



In the limited space at command it will be quite impossible to give a full 

 account of each form, but we may make a brief mention of the more important or 

 interesting, beginning with the Talisch Pheasant (P. talischensis) of the south- 

 western shore of the Capsian Sea, which offers a transition as it were between the 

 last and the Persian Pheasant (P. persicus), which differs in having the feathers 

 of the breast and fore neck more golden-orange in color, and wing-coverts nearly 

 white; it is an inhabitant of Persia. In northeastern Persia and northwestern 

 Afghanistan the place is taken by the Murghab or Prince of Wales' Pheasant 

 ( P. principalis), which has the white wing-coverts of the last, but differs in having 

 the upper parts more golden-orange tinged with bronze-red on the rump, while 

 in the Zarafshan Valley occurs a slightly different race known as the Zarafshan 

 Pheasant (P. zerafshanicus). Shaw's Pheasant (P. shawi) of eastern Turkestan 



